Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who helped pioneer the state’s online signature-gathering system for political candidates, has started using the system for his potential gubernatorial race two years away.

Doug Ducey reported spending $581,000 on the Republican primary for state treasurer, more than any state-level candidate except for Buz Mills' defunct gubernatorial campaign.

Ducey, the former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, spent $100,000 in the week before the Aug. 10 trigger report was submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. Partly due to the spate of television ads he's aired, Ducey has spent more than every state treasurer candidate from the past two election cycles combined in his four-way primary.

The state has enough cash to pay its bills for the rest of the year, State Treasurer Dean Martin announced. Martin's office said July 13 that a cash-management plan the state is adopting would diminish, if not totally eliminate, the need to borrow money for day-to-day operations.